24/10: 45 people probably pushed back from Italy to Greece

25.10.2021 / 10:50 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 24th of October 2021

Case name: 20211024-AEG835
Situation: 45 people in distress in a sailing boat 42km in Italian Search and Rescue Zone between Greece and Italy. We were informed by Italian authorities that the people were taken aboard the cargo ship Italia Grande and were brought to Greece, although the position we received clearly showed them in Italian responsibility.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On the 24th of October we were informed about a boat with 45 people which started four days ago and was in distress between Greece and Italy. The position we received through a relative showed the boat in Italian Search and Rescue Zone (37°52, 18°28 at 18:00CEST 23.10.2021), so we forwarded the alert to Italian authorities at 09:49 CEST. During the next 24 hours we tried to reach the people on the boat without success. At 14:17 CEST the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Reggio Calabria assured us they would launch a rescue mission. At 22:19 CEST, MRCC Reggio Calabria told us they found a boat and will investigate further. At 00:40 CEST, MRCC Reggio Calabria informed us that all 45 people are on board Grande Italia (IMO: 9227912), a cargo vessel heading to Greece. According to Windy the wind was blowing East to West - towards Italy, not away, so it was unlikely that the boat would have been blown 42km into Greek waters. At 06:42 CEST MRCC Reggio Calabria said the Cargo ship is heading to Kalamata, when we asked why the people weren't brough to Italy the officer told us to ask the Greek authorities about it. At 08:08 CEST we called the Hellenic Coast Guard, namely the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Piraeus, to clarify why the people were being brought to Greece instead of Italy, who told us they do not have to report to us.

See our tweets about this case here.
Last update: 10:58 Dec 12, 2021
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
24/10: 45 people probably pushed back from Italy to Greece 24/10: 45 people probably pushed back from Italy to Greece 24/10: 45 people probably pushed back from Italy to Greece
Layers »
  • Border police patrols
     
    While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
  • Coastal radars
     
    Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
  • Exclusive Economic Zone
     
    Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
  • Frontex operations
     
    Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
  • Mobile phone coverage
     
    Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
  • Oil and gas platforms
     
    Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
  • Search and Rescue Zone
     
    An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
  • Territorial Waters
     
    A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans

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